Editorial November 2, 1935 Issue

Adequacy and Abundance

George Shaw Cook

A complete lack of those things which are requisite to human existence would be experienced by comparatively few. Actual starvation, for example, would be exceptional, although there doubtless have been many who were, in belief, on the verge of starvation. Varying degrees of poverty and lack are, however, familiar to many mortals, and many more who are not actually without the necessities of existence—food, clothing, housing, etc.—are yet without an adequate sense of supply. They appear to be in a more or less chronic state of inadequacy and insufficiency. It is becoming evident to students of Christian Science that such conditions are due to poverty of thought, to inadequate realization of the allness, ever-presence, and availability of infinite good.

It does not follow, however, that possession of an abundance of material things is of itself an indication of spiritual understanding on the part of their possessor. Quite the contrary is frequently found to be the fact. And Jesus said, "A man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." It is quite as possible to have too many material things as to have too few. A plethora of things does not bring happiness. This fact was plainly indicated by the Preacher, who wrote: "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing;" and who also said, after showing the futility of believing that human power and material possessions can bring contentment, "Behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit."

On the other hand, poverty has no inherent virtue. Lack is not an expression of righteousness. Limitation is not a manifestation of intelligence. Quite the reverse is true. It is divinely natural that one should have those things required to express a right sense of freedom and dominion. It would not be possible to have too much of that which is actually and absolutely good, the ideas which express God; but it is quite possible to have too much or too little of that which is humanly called good. The thing to be desired, then, and that which is quite capable of realization, is to have an adequate supply of needful things. This comes through understanding and demonstrating the infinite, changeless, ever-present, ever-available, beneficent nature of divine Mind, the Father and Mother of man and the unfailing, inexhaustible source of man's supply.

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